UK 
United States
Big Interview | Stuart Kennedy, CPO, Cambridge University Press & Assessment
Meet Stuart Kennedy, CPO of Cambridge University Press & Assessment...
Dan Wood
Chief People Officer, University of the West of England (UWE Bristol)
Dan Wood, CPO, University of the West of England talks rising to senior HR leadership from ill-health, humble beginnings, and what the late Queen taught him about dignity when you are faced with a streaker on your lawn...
Dan Wood
Chief People Officer, University of the West of England (UWE Bristol)
Dan Wood, CPO, University of the West of England talks rising to senior HR leadership from ill-health, humble beginnings, and what the late Queen taught him about dignity when you are faced with a streaker on your lawn...
Dan Wood, CPO, UWE has mixed with the good and the royal, but humble beginnings have made him the HR leader he is today – one of wit, clear direction, and a barrel load of brilliant stories to share.
‘I’m a bit unusual’
He begins by telling me he’s not like everyone else – by the end of our conversation I reflect that it’s more accurate to say that he is a ‘bit brilliant.’ He’s navigated a rare illness, cared for his mother in ill health, surfaced from the confines of his own ‘class ceiling,’ and leveraged a dedication to the Scouts to understand that he did have chances, and he was going to take them.
He is funny and charming - in a way that makes you feel at ease but above all he is a ‘bit’ of everything too – a great orator, a shrewd strategist, a careful advocate of inclusivity, an empathetic leader, and a humorous story-teller, the sort of person you want to sit next to at dinner because he’ll delight you with his tales and listen to yours too and I know immediately that we will get on like a house on fire.
‘My peers derided my ambitions’
The path from the school gates to HR wasn’t a straightforward one for Wood. He is the first generation of his family to go to university – and his own peers derided his ambitions to do a degree – there were many battles to fight. Wood is open about being a ‘late bloomer’ too. “I struggled to read aloud in class and books were not a part of my family life. The thing that helped me was being a member of Scouts – I attended a World Jamboree when I was 14 and mixed with teenagers that didn’t have access to ongoing education because their economies were broken. I realised that I didn’t have those barriers, and I needed to take my opportunities.” So, it felt cruel that having got himself to higher education that he fell ill with Legionnaires' disease, a rare lung infection. It meant a year out of his publishing degree at Oxford Brookes University and a long road to recovery.
I struggled to read aloud in class and books were not a part of my family life. The thing that helped me was being a member of Scouts
Thankfully, he recovered, and the next stop was to Exeter University to do a PGCE in teaching. Things were moving in the right direction for Wood – he joined the fast track for leadership and management but just as momentum was taking hold, bad luck struck once more, and he took the difficult decision to leave in his final term to care for his mother – he didn’t return. That double-helping of ill-health which wielded its wrath on Wood could have been the end of his ambitions, but he merely dusted himself off and channelled those false-starts into an ever-hungrier desire to climb the ranks and lead a life of purpose.
He landed at the UK Sector Skills Council for Health, known today as the Workforce Development Trust. It was a temping contract that morphed into a solid nine years. “We grew from around 50 people to about 500 over four years or so. It was an interesting time; we were selling contracts directly to the health sector – consultancy services and e-learning for example.”
